Priam
In
Greek mythology,
Priam (
Greek Πρίαμος, Priamos) was the king of
Troy during the
Trojan War, and youngest son of
Laomedon. Priam had a number of wives; his first was
Hecuba.By his various wives and concubines Priam was the father of fifty sons and several daughters. Priam's eldest son was
Aesacus, his son by Arisbe; Aesacus met a tragic death before the advent of the Trojan War.
Hector was Priam's eldest son by Hecuba, and Priam's favorite. Aside from Hector, Hecuba bore other sons to Priam -
Paris,
Deiphobus,
Helenus,
Pammon,
Polites,
Antiphus,
Hipponous, and
Polydorus, among others - as well as many daughters - including
Ilione,
Creusa,
Laodice,
Polyxena, and
Cassandra. By other women, Priam had many other sons (Melanippus, Gorgythion, Philaemon, Hippothous, Glaucus, Agathon, Chersidamas, Evagoras, Hippodamas, Mestor, Atas, Doryclus, Lycaon, Dryops, Bias, Chromius, Astygonus, Telestas, Evander, Cebriones, Mylius, Archemachus, Laodocus, Echephron, Hyperion, Ascanius, Democoon, Aretus, Deioptes, Clonius, Echemmon, Hypiochus, Aegeoneus, Lysithous, Polymedon) and daughters - Medesicaste, Lysimache, Aristodeme.
Helios by the slave girl Orynia. The list is based on Apollodorus, who does not provide the name of the mother for most of these children. However,
Homer (
Iliad) says that
Laothoe, daughter of the Lelegian king
Altes, bore two sons to Priam, named
Lycaon and
Polydorus; and that Gorgythion was Priam's son by Castianeira of Aesyme. Polydorus was actually the name of two sons of Priam, one a warrior at the time of the Trojan War, the other a child (see below).
Priam was originally called
Podarces and he kept himself from being killed by
Heracles by giving him a golden veil embroidered by his sister,
Hesione. After this, Podarces changed his name to Priam. This is an etymology based on
priatos "ransomed"; the actual etymology of the name is probably not Greek, but perhaps
Lydian in origin.
Polydorus, Priam's youngest son, was sent with gifts of jewelry and gold to the court of King
Polymestor and his sister Ilione to keep him safe during the
Trojan War. The fighting grew vicious and Priam was frightened for the child's safety. After Troy fell, Polymestor threw Polydorus to his death to take the treasure for himself. Hecuba eventually avenged her son.
When
Hector was killed by
Achilles, Achilles disrespected the body and refused to give it back. This displeased the gods and Zeus sent a message to Priam to go alone to the Achaean ships and take only one old man to drive the wagon-load of treasure for the ransom. Priam does so, and midway to the ships
Helios his youngest son , in disguise, guides Priam to Achilles hidden from the rest of the Achaeans. Achilles, having had his own message from the gods, agrees to release Hector's body to the old king who is begging at his knees. Achilles further goes on to give Priam leave to hold a proper funeral for Hector complete with funeral games. He promises that no Greek will engage in combat for 11 days, but on the 12th the war would resume.
In the
sack of Troy, Priam was brutally murdered by Achilles's son
Neoptolemus (also known in the Aeneid as Pyrrhus), in a scene memorialized both in
Virgil's
Aeneid and
Shakespeare's
Hamlet.
Priam is shown in the movie
Troy as a good king and father, and is killed in the gardens of Troy during the sacking towards the movie's end.
In the
Prose Edda, Snorri Sturluson claimed that Priam was the ancestor of a race that migrated to Scandinavia and served as a basis for the
Aesir.
